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Tiryaq (antidote compound, and whether it may be taken)

الترياق

Tiryaq is a medicine used against poison, of several kinds, and it may contain viper flesh. The Hanbalis do not allow eating or drinking it when the flesh of a viper is in it, since the flesh is forbidden and no forbidden thing may be used for cure. The Hanafis and Shafi'is forbid it in the apparent view, though some allow it when a cure is known and no other remedy exists. The Malikis allow eating a viper that is slaughtered properly. 1 2

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Summary

Tiryaq is a medicine against poison, of several kinds; some kinds contain viper flesh, and its lawfulness differs by school according to what it contains. 1 2

Definition

Tiryaq is an arabized word, usually said with a kasra; it is a medicine used against poison, of several kinds. 1

The Hanbali ruling

The Hanbalis hold that tiryaq is a medicine against poison into which viper flesh is put, so they do not allow eating or drinking it, since viper flesh is forbidden and no forbidden thing may be used for cure, on the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud that God has not put your cure in what He forbade you. 1 Al-Khattabi said that drinking tiryaq is not disliked in itself, but because of the viper flesh in it; if none is in it, there is no harm. 1

The Hanafi and Shafi'i views

The Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold viper flesh forbidden. For the Hanafis, the apparent school view forbids viper flesh in a cure; one view allows it when a cure is known and no other remedy exists, and this is the ruling given. The Shafi'is have similar views. 2

The Maliki view

The Malikis allow eating a viper when it is slaughtered at the proper place, its poison is safe, and it is needed for a sickness; so the tiryaq into which its flesh has entered may be used for cure. 2

People and things also explored

Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation· Hadi (the whitish fluid before childbirth: its ruling on ablution and purity)· Hair, wool and fur (their purity, the rules for the dead, washing, adornment and sale)· Hudb (eyelashes: injury and washing in ablution)· Palm of the hand (kaff)· The funeral prayer· The ruling on one who abandons prayer· Ada' (performance of an obligation within its time)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5003
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5004
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Tiryaq (antidote compound, and whether it may be taken)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/tiryaq-antidote/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation

In the lexicon, adhm is the bone that has flesh on it, plural 'idham and 'izam. Most jurists hold that a human bone is pure, whether living or dead, of a Muslim or not; that a fish bone stays pure after death; and that the bone of a lawfully slaughtered edible animal is pure and may be used. The bone of carrion, or of a non-edible animal, is impure according to the Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Ishaq, and cannot be purified; the Hanafis hold it pure, and 'Umar disliked oiling in ivory. On cleansing after excretion with a bone, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbid it; the Hanafis dislike it as forbidden but accept that it suffices; the Malikis forbid a carrion bone and allow a pure bone with disapproval. Most jurists allow retaliation for a bone only at a joint, since equality cannot be achieved elsewhere.